Over the years, devices have been developed for the washing of parts in garages and automobile repair facilities and for industrial applications. These devices typically comprise a drum carrying a liquid solvent therein and a sink mounted over the drum and in which the parts can be washed. Generally speaking, it is conventional to provide a pump for delivering the solvent from the drum to the sink.
More particularly, the pump is typically secured to the sink to extend downwardly into the solvent in the drum. Thus, the pump normally extends well below the sink so as to draw solvent from a point closer to the bottom of the drum than the surface of the solvent after which the solvent passes through a tube to a hose that can be manipulated by the operator to wash the parts within the sink. As will be appreciated, the sink will have a drain for the solvent that is used to wash the parts to be returned to the drum.
By reason of the constant recirculation and use of the solvent in cleaning dirty parts, it is customary to service the solvent at intervals that depend upon the nature and extent of utilization of the parts washing device. Specifically, the solvent will become contaminated to an undesirable degree with grease, oil and other debris after a period of use which also depends upon the condition of the parts being washed. When this occurs, it is necessary to remove the sink from the drum to gain access to the solvent for servicing thereof.
Unfortunately, this operation is compounded by the position of the pump. The fact that the pump extends well below the bottom of the sink means that the sink must be lifted considerably above the top of the drum in order to effect the removal thereof, but this is not only a cumbersome and difficult act to perform but also can result in severe damage to the pump if it is knocked into the side of the drum during removal by reason of the failure to lift the sink sufficiently high for the pump to clear the open end of the drum. Moreover, even if the pump is made to clear the drum, the fact that it extends well below the sink is a serious problem.
In this connection, the sink must be set aside on a surface for the time period that is required for liquid solvent servicing. Since the pump extends below the sink, it can often be damaged when this is attempted which then, of course, necessitates downtime during repair or replacement of the pump and/or other operative components as well as the considerable costs necessarily resulting therefrom. As a result, it has remained to provide a truly effective parts washer device that overcomes the foregoing problems in an entirely satisfactory manner.